Nope, that third screw is actually just a post that the rubber grommet attached to the fan body slips over. Step 4 shows how the fan comes off of it. When you go to remove the fan, you simply remove the two screws closest to the antenna plate and then lift the fan off this post. The screw you are talking about is removed in Step 14 and does not need to be removed until this point.

Successful install completed, but I had some trouble getting the fan reinstalled. When I removed the fan from the "Step 14" post, the rubber piece stayed on the post. When attempting to reinstall the fan, it was impossible to get the loop to go back over that rubber piece. So, I had to remove the post (again), and with the help of the spudger and some patience, worked it through. Then installed the fan using the 2 screws and the post. I think it may have saved some time and trouble if I just removed all 3 in the first place, leaving the post in the fan.

on my mid-2011 mac mini, that 3rd T6 post/screw had to be removed to get the fan out. It goes right through a hole in the fan housing. No way the grommet is slipping over anything without wreaking major havoc.

On my mid-2010 mac mini, also removed the 26 mm T6 Torx standoff during this step instead of step 12. Having completed the steps, it appears my hard drive is from mid 2011, so maybe the production line for mine had changed.

A standoff is like a screw extender. It screws into a screw-hole, and its head has a screw hole on it. When you attach something to a standoff, it makes that something stand off the original screw-hole surface.

This is the approach I used. no way was the "ear" pulling over the head of the standoff without breaking something. The standoff simply unscrewed from whatever is under the logic board and stayed with the fan assembly. WAY safe

When I pulled the fan ear off the standoff the rubber grommet stayed on the standoff. That's fine, but it makes it difficult to put the fan ear back on during reassembly. So I just pulled the rubber grommet off the standoff and put it into the hole in the fan ear. Then I was able to push the fan ear onto the standoff with out trouble during reassembly.

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This is a screw into the head of another screw below it that holds the main board. When I took out the fan, the top screw AND the longer 26 mm screw came out together so when I was putting my mini back together I thought for a moment I had lost a screw.

I have tried several times but I have been unable to get all four holes to line up when replacing the antenna plate. I can get the two closer to the center of the mini just fine but no matter how I align the plate, one of the screws closer to the edge of the mini will be so far out of alignment that I cannot get the screw to go in. I had to leave one screw uninstalled. The plate is not distorted in any way. It is installed the same way it was before I removed, as far as I can tell. I am baffled! Has anyone been through this?

I had a really hard time with this. I was able to resolve it though: secure the other three screws first. Then I pushed my precision screwdriver into the hole and levered the wayward tab into position: it wedged in with an audible snap sound! Then I was able to fasten the final screw.

Had the same problem - the reason was the replacement drive I used - it is thinner than the original one. So I could not get the far side of the drive correctly into the holes for the notches mounted on the drive; that is - the drive was always a little bit too far to the center of the mac case. Everything works fine until you try to install all four screws.

I found a simple solution: I attached some adhesive tape temporarily to the drive cover. By pulling on the tape while pushing the drive in its space the notches slipped into their holes. After this installing the antenna was no problem any more.

I had a similar problem with getting the antenna cover to fit back into place. I tried putting 3 screws back in and levering the 4th, but it did not work in my case. Finally, with three screws in place,, I carefully placed a thin pair of forceps into one of the holes in the cover and levered the entire cover upwards. That worked for me.

Pulling up on the cover worked for me too. I found that the best place to pull up on the cover is at about "true north" in the picture ... near the black dot used to indicate lid-is-closed. I did it before installing any screws and all four screws went in fine.

As others have noted, the hardest part of the whole process is getting the holes lined up in reassembly. I ended up stripping one of the short screws, but it fits well enough to engage the slots in the circular plastic cover. If you leave a short screw out, I don't know how the bottom cover would fit securely. I would carefully note how the antenna cover fits while you remove it. The longer screws go into the actual hard drive, so I think alignment of the hard drive is part of the problem.

I had same problem..! U tried EVERTHING, and what worked PERFECT for me, and with very little effort is what "x10target" described here (scroll about half way down): Difficulty in re-installing Antenna Plate

To replace the antenna plate, you need to patiently align the sides of the antenna and slide it in. I had similar problems as described above but, instead of using force, I resorted to patience. The plate's fit is very snug, just a little bit off the straight line and it won't sit properly. And when it sits, it really sits tight, you don't even need to hold it in place while screwing the screws back in.

When I tried to do step 9 and disconnect these connectors, I found that not only the cable/connector but the receptacle tore off the logic board -- momentary panic! This happened to both connectors.

Left on the logic board were two tiny fragile gold pins (per connector). Fortunately they were pretty straight, and upon re-assembly, I was able to gently slot the receptacles back into the tiny pins. Upon reassembly, everything's working fine (no crazy fan noise) so I guess I got lucky...maybe VERY lucky. :)

Thanks iFixIt for a fantastic guide. I've got a replacement drive in there and it's definitely going to extend the life of my Mini for another season.

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I broke the connector on the bluetooth board when trying to remove the antenna when I tried to replace the hard drive. Currently, the exact replacement bluetooth board 607-6509A is very hard to find or otherwise, expensive. Instead, I was able to use a cheap replacement that can be found on eBay: Apple Macbook Unibody A1342 Airport Bluetooth Module 607-6771A. There is a black plastic sheath at the back of the 607-6771A. Just cut out the part that cover the 2 holes, you are good to go.

It would be nice if there was a close up pic of the different connectors. Then, one would know how the connectors attach. In this case, this connector is kinda like an old “F” plug. Used Kelly Forceps to pull straight up. Came off and went back on. No sweat.

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When you replace the antenna plate, it can be tricky. The curved edge of it actually slots both over and under the edge of the case. If it doesn’t seem to fit properly, the edges of the cut perforations may be slightly squashed. Tweak them with a small screwdriver and it will suddenly seat properly.

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BEWARE! Gently pulling one thermal sensor wire up from its logic board connector caused wire to rip loose from connector, leaving connector still in logic board socket. Using spudger on other connector caused same result. Even after wires ripped lose, it was impossible to get connector out of logic board socket (using spudger and needle nose pliers the connector came away in pieces). Connectors almost seem glued/fused into sockets and the wires will apparently break lose before the connector will release. What a terrible design. Here's hoping the mini will run without HDD thermal sensors :( I am experienced with repairing laptops and am kind of ticked because I am sure this damage was not due to incorrect/rough handling during attempt to disassemble.

Followup Note: Ending up with disconnected HDD thermal sensors due to breakage apparently causes the main system fan to run at full speed all the time. This is extremely loud and pretty much defeats the purpose of the Mini form factor. Going to have to try to rig something up with actual solder or adhesive tape.

This is just stupid. A computer where logic board connections get broken while replacing a frickin HDD. All in an attempt to do something about the pathetic and feeble hard disk the vendor includes with their crap hardware (50MB/s transfer--what is this 1998?). Last Mac Mini I will ever buy. Slow, yet expensive and fragile.

Not sure what emcnally is talking about but mine came off fine. I have a 2010 mac mini and just upgraded to a 500 gig WD drive. Everything worked went great and was easier than I thought. My connectors pulled right off with no damage.

The plastic part broke for me. Barely putting any pressure on the connector and the thin plastic covering the metal connectors broke and the wires came out leaving the plastic connector in place. I was able to get the connector out without any more damage. Can I purchase a new thermal connector for this? I can't find the part listed anywhere.

In the meantime I'm going to try and get the wires rigged to the board some how. Super glue them to the connector maybe. But I'm not sure if there is a polarity concern. Can the wires go to either pin on the board?

I was able to get the plastic connector back in place, and fit the wires into it. Polarity is needed. First time I got the fan running full. Switched the wires and now I think the fan is running normally.

But I don't trust this connection over and time would like to find a replacement hard drive thermal sensor wire assembly.

Thanks, that's a nice way, works really well for me. Just try to stick a needle on the side and lift it up, if it has come up a little you can gently pull the cable and it will come off with very little force on the cable.

These connectors are fairly easy to unplug. You can pull up on the wires GENTLY to remove them. I used a wooden spudger to pry gently and the connectors popped right out. Putting them back in is easy just make sure they are right side up and they snap right back in.

This is where I got in trouble too. No problems on the first of my Minis, but this time one of these sockets had poor soldering and just came off the board. Basically no solder connection to the posts that are there to hold the socket in place. I ended up using a pin to pry the rest of them off, in case the others were also poorly connected. The outside of the socket is U shaped, with 2 small tabs at the lower end of the U. I inserted a pin next to these tabs and it let me lever the connectors out easily. Now I get to practice my soldering!

I used a pick (like a fine ice pick - available at Harbor Freight) to pry up the plastic clips while gently pulling at the wires with tweezers. They pull straight up. There are tiny tabs on the sides that kind of lock them in. I would not try just pulling on the wires. Everything is tiny and yrying to fix wires pulled out of the connectors would be very difficult.

The pin method is definitely better. I used the pin to slightly spread the "wings" of the connector on the board. Then I levered out the part that is attached to the wires. All done with the aid of a magnifying loop.

With all the good comments above, I was extra cautious, my two connectors have solid black covers and I couldn’t find the tabs for the needles. So I read ahead a few steps. I was able to skip this step 13 and steps 15 and 16 and take out the drive without force. Step 14 worked as described. I have a mid-2010 without an optical drive so there was only a hard drive connector.

Hi, i just used the flat end of ifixit’s plastic spudger to lift the tiny connectors without any tugging on the wires. First, i was a trained auto mechanic for 10 years then i got my electrical engineering degree! Started fixing macs in 1979 with an oscope, soldering iron and the ic circuit handbook plus chips from apple.

Apples construction methods have sure gotten more and more fragile over the years. Glad i still have great eyes! Rossmon

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What I did, was just wiggle the drive out of the pc. Just pull it a little bit up and towards. Might need a little bit of force. But it should come out. Then, just remove the tape from the sata connector and then remove the sata connector from the hdd. Then you can replace the hdd like mentioned in this tutorial.

And I removed only the left thermal sensor. The right one can stay on unless you need more room.

One MASSIVE hint to do this step: DON'T pull the tools towards you; rather, lever the top ends of the tools towards you, at and angle (so that the bottom of the tools don't move). Took me a while to figure this out!

I suggest to pull the wires for the cd drive thermal sensor and and the infrared sensor upward to lift their connectors up and out of their respective sockets on the logic board ((highlighted in red in the third picture of step 16).

A couple of small screw drivers will do. Just make sure they go far enough into the hole to be able to lever against the bottom as you pull them towards you. Without this I started to damage the logic board slightly.

I found that when removing the logic board out a bit that the IR sensor was not so much of a problem as was the HDD temperature sensor located next to the IR sensor.

My logic board accidentally popped out rather quickly and pulled out the sensor for the HDD.

I don't know why it's not mentioned in the earlier step to just use the spudger to pop this cable off. Since it is mentioned in other guides for removal when replacing other parts.

This would have been really helpful and most likely I would not have been left with loose cables and now looking for a new sensor cable.

So fo any others out there replacing/upgrading your HDD and have some what of a hard time getting the logic board to budge just a bit, use the spudger to pop the cable off, it's not hard and pops back on as easily as the others. That's just an FYI and a preventative measure.

@tdowse1 I agree completely. I take issue with this guide because I believe it has an error. With just one of two changes I wouldn't have destroyed my ZIF sensor connectors:

1) Issue the warning BEFORE or even with the instruction. Following the instructions step by step and not reading a step ahead, you don't realize you can damage your cable irretrievably. Even if you read the entire guide first, you can't be expected to memorize all warnings BEFORE you act on the instructions.

2) Instruct the user to disconnect ALL of the ZIF cables first. This is truly the only safe thing to do.

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Lift the hard drive from the edge nearest the logic board and remove it from the mini, minding the RAM socket and any cables that may get caught.

When reinstalling the hard drive, be sure the two T8 Torx lugs on its far end are inserted into the two rubber grommets highlighted in red in the second picture before sliding the logic board back into place.

The new drive, being thinner than the old one, was a bit tricky to get seated into the rubber grommets. I found that temporarily screwing a couple of screws into the top mounting holes on the drive helped with getting a grip on it. This, and standing the unit up on its end so that the drive would "fall" into the rubber grommets, worked OK for me.